The Last Tale of the Flower Bride

YA author Chokshi’s (Aru Shah and the Nectar of Immortality) intoxicating adult debut explores the shifting boundaries between fantasy and reality. A fairy-tale scholar known only as “the bridegroom” falls under the spell of the enigmatic, wealthy Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada; when they marry, Indigo requests that he never ask about her past. However, when Indigo is called back to her opulent but unsettling childhood home, her long-held secrets come to light, and soon the bridegroom realizes that he might not know his wife at all. Narrators Steve West and Sura Siu alternate telling the tale, with West giving voice to the bridegroom and Siu speaking for Azure, Indigo’s childhood best friend. West’s deeply resonant voice is a seductive complement to Chokshi’s lush, poetic language and brings out the novel’s air of foreboding and menace. Siu’s performance is mixed, however. She expressively captures Azure’s transformation from naive girl to determined woman, but scattered mispronunciations, inconsistent character voices, and sibilance in the narration sometimes detract from the whole.